Traditional laundry cleaning packaging consists of a variety of configurations. For granular detergents, the most common packaging is a paperboard carton with a scoop dispenser. For liquid detergents, there are several conventional packaging configurations including a bottle having a dosing cap, a squeeze bottle with top-mounted nozzle, a bottle having a top-mounted dip tube piston pump or sprayer and a refillable package.
For liquid detergents, the use of a scoop is very messy, particularly for a new type of anhydrous (solvent-based) thick cream-like laundry detergent product having at least 40% suspended solids and a specific gravity of 1.2 which is too thick to pour accurately using most conventional packaging. In sizes greater than 1.5 liter, the combination of the large volume and the product's weight make a squeeze bottle non-feasible for the thick cream-like product because it is too heavy to lift and simultaneously squeeze through a nozzle. Furthermore, the highly viscous product is expensive and cannot be exposed to water prior to use.
The top-mounted, dip tube piston pump dispenser is more feasible to use than squeezing or pouring different types of liquid detergent because it permits the user to accurately dispense the product without lifting the dispenser. However, the top-mounted, dip tube pump is undesirable for at least two reasons. First, the dip tube leaves product residuals at the bottom of the container, thus wasting product and enticing the user to introduce water into the container to remove the residual. Second, due to the properties of the highly viscous product, the product adheres to all conventional packaging materials.
For example, regarding the top-mounted, dip tube piston pump, the product will adhere to the dip tube and container causing product waste. Furthermore, this type of package requires either additional pump strokes to prime the pump or significant force by the user to dispense the required dose of the highly viscous product due to the product's adherence to the inside of the dip tube. Furthermore, due to the cost of a piston pump dispenser, it is advantageous to have a dispenser which reuses the dispenser while the liquid filled container is replaced.
Therefore, what is needed is a rechargeable dispenser capable of accurately dispensing relatively large doses of a highly viscous anhydrous product having at least 40% suspended solids with minimal effort and with minimal residual left within the container while reducing the possibility of water contamination.